In this proposal, the University of Texas at El Paso requests continuing support of institutional development activities designed to strengthen the university infrastructure of mental health training programs, and to support four research projects involving faculty in the departments of psychology and sociology. The main institutional goals include the development of new researchers investigating mental health with minority populations, the development of a cross disciplinary approach to the study of mental health, and the further development of students at this predominately Latino university. Students and faculty conduct research within the context of a Ph.D. program that trains bilingual bicultural psychologists. The program is designed to address minority issues on the U.S./Mexico border and in the southwest, and is unique in overall focus. With the support of the Minority Research Infrastructure Support Program (M-RISP), it is anticipated that the program and faculty will develop nationally recognized and competitive research programs involving minority students and faculty investigating basic minority mental health issues. The research projects involve an array of closely aligned projects investigating alcohol abuse and trauma in Colonias, medical decision making, capital punishments and the associated mental health outcomes of this brutalization. All of the proposed research projects entail either cross-cultural approaches to psychology, or make unique contributions to our knowledge regarding minority mental health.